Angelica and Medoro
c. 1570
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520-1582) after Teodoro Ghisi (Italian, died 1601)
Italy
It is thought that this may be the first depiction of an episode from Ariosto's poem Orlando Furioso in which Orlando's madness is precipitated when his beloved, the Princess Angelica of Cathay, falls in love with the page Medoro. The immensely popular poem, first published in 1532, existed in over one hundred Italian editions by the end of that century.
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper